Wood heel



Oct. '24, 1944. s, G. ROSENBERG 2,361,062

WOOD HEEL Filed Feb. 1, 1943 Patented Oct. 24, 1944 iypUNlTED (STAT-ES PATENT OFFICE 2 Q I @236106? ,l I. N Y

Q DH EE Samuel G. Rosenberg, R oxbury, Mass. m 'I ApplicationFebrua -y 1, 1943'," Serial No. 474,241 totes-c4 g I 4 claims.

This invention relates wood heels commonly used in the manufacture of'womens shoes and attached by headed nails drivenfrom inside the S1108. 1-.

The objects of my. invention are to provide a wood heel which may be attached to. a shoe more securely and reliably than heretofore and whichis of such constructionthat relatively soft wood may be employed in, its body. It has been the practice heretofore to use the hardwoods, suchas maple, for the bodies of wood heels. Hard woods have the advantage of supplying a firm holding for the attaching nails'but it is difficult to drive the nails properly into them except under heavy pressure and there is always danger of splitting. Moreover, in war time conditions ard wood is not freely available as material for wood heels. Soft wood in heels has not heretofore been 4 satisfactory because the attaching nails pull out too easily when subjected to very'severestrains incident to wear. With these conditions in view,

my invention consists in a novel wood heel having its heel seat formed of a thin resilient'sheet which is secured to the finished heel as a part thereof, and is adaptedto be punctured byand interlocked with corrugated or barbed heel attaching nails. The heel of my invention has two essential characteristics,xfirst, that the resilient sheet be permanently secured inplace as a part of the finished heel, and second, that the materialof the sheet be puncturable by the attaching nails in such a manner as to interlock with them and oppose or substantially prevent withdrawal.

Va'rious means for securing the resilient sheet in place in the heel may be adopted within the scope ofmy invention. As hereinshown tacks or nails may be driven through the sheet into the body of the heel and in locations diflferent from those of the heel attaching nails. I Preferably, andv as a desirable feature of my invention the usual Celluloid heel cover may be flanged over themargin of the heel seat so as to engage and hold positively the edge of the sheet. If desired the folded margin of the Celluloid cover may be extended inwardly-seas to be caught by the attaching nails, thus doubly securing the resilient sheet in its position.

The heel attaching nails to be employed in attaching the wood heel of my invention may be corrugated or barbed, with the result that in puncturing the resilient sheet they instantaneously displace its material in passing through the sheet and permit it then to contract resiliently upon'the constrictions in the nail. The nails are thus interlocked with the resilient sheet by a barbed ratchet-like or monkey bite engagementtand are thus positively held in place against .being withdrawn from the wood body of the heel.

The result is a particularly secure, firm and reliable heel structure. When soft wood is employed in the heel it is firm enough to prevent lateral displacement of the attaching nails, while loosening or withdrawing of the nails is positively prevented by the resilient sheet which is secured to the heel :bymeans other than the heel attaching nails.

It'will be understood that the wood heel of my invention is completely finishedby the wood heel shown in theaccompanying drawing in which-- Fig. 1 is a viewin perspective of the heel, a portion of the cover being shown as broken away,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary cross sectional view on an enlarged scale,

Fig. 3 is 'a-view in longitudinal section showing to a portion of a womans shoe,

the heel'attached and Fig. 4 is a view in perspective showing a resilient sheet or blankby itself. a

The wood body ID of the heel is formed by turning from a block in the manner well known in the industry, the only difference in the present case being that a slight allowance in height should be made for the thin sheet or blankwhichis to be added to its heel seat. The wood body of the heel herein shown is covered with sheet Celluloid l2, although leather or textile material may be employed. The bottom of the heel is covered by the usual top lift H. To the concave heel-seat face of the heel is applied a thin resilient blank M which coincides in outline substantially with the heel-seat or may be slightly smaller if desired. The blank l4 may be of steel, brass or tin plate of slight spring temper or it may be hard, resilient fibre or sheet Celluloid. The essential characteristics are merely that it should be tough and not brittle and that it should be puncturable by the heel attaching nails which in the process de: flect the material so as to form a crater closely fitting the body of the nail.

The blank l4 may be secured to the concave heel seat in any desired manner that will not interfere with the location of the heel attaching nails. As shown in Figs. 1 and 3 the tacks or short nailsl5 are driven through the blank I at points along its central axis into the wood body of the heel. In this preliminary operation the blank 14 is concaved so that it makes face to face contact with the concavity of the heel seat and so fits it perfectly with its marginal edge held resiliently in intimate contact with the wood body of the heel.

Having partially secured the blank I4 in this manner the heel may be covered as usual and the covering material folded in over the margin lfl, thus :firmly .andpermanently "securing it in position upon the heel: seat. .Theiinturned flange l3 may be actually cemented to the surface of the :blank M and .byrreason'got its relativelylarge area'of contact supplieszeiiective meansfor permanentiy uniting the thin resilient blank M to I4 and since the blank itself is securely attached to the wood body of the heel any prying tension upon the heel tending to withdraw it from the heel :attaching nails is positively resisted and a 15 of the heel seat, over the edge of the blank or the wood bodyof the heel. .If desired the flange I3 may be sufficiently'wide to be caught by the heel attaching nails and the strength of the attachment thus even more increased. It will be understood that leather or textile material maybe used in similar manner -for .heel coverin materialin place of Celluloid and-:that theblank.

|4will be bonded orsecured inplace .by cementing the cover aterial both to the wood body of the heel and to the blank.

.Instead of preliminarily attaching the blank l4; by the tacks 15 it is contemplated in some cases that an attaching spur may bestruckout from thebody of the blank. M as suggested in Fig.4. As shown in this figure anointed spur I8 is provided by driving atriangular punch through the material-ofthe blank.

When the shoe manufacturer is ready to attach a heel constructed in accordance with myinvcm tion he has merely to presentit tothe .wood heel attaching machine which has been supplied with headed attaching nails I! of the character shown in Figs iz and 3. These attaching nails are co rugated or barbed so that thealternate enlargesecure and reliable attachment thus achieved.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A finished heel for womens shoes, comprising a body of relatively soft wood having a concave-heel-seat, a thin resilient metal sheet concaved to fit said heel-seat surface and puncturable by heel attaching nails driven through it into the :wood body of' the .heel, nails securing said sheet iipon thezheel, and a cover of stiff sheet Celluloid .upon' :the exposed walls of the body of the heel molded over in a marginal flange permanentlyholding the entire edge of saidmetal sheet in position upon the heel -seat'face of the heel. a

2. Ina woman's shoe having an outsole, a'wood heel havingaconcave heel-seat, athin resilient metal sheet conformed to said heelseat, a Cellu- 101d :heelacover flanged over the marginof the backseat-upon the edge ofsaid sheet and holding the sheet permanently upon the heel, and barbed attaching hailsdriven throughthe outsole and said metal sheet into the heel and interlocked withthemetal ofsaid plate.

3. In a :womans shoe havinganoutsole, a heel comprising .a bodyof relatively soft wood with a :concave Iheel-seat, a thin resilient blank of :Shcet-metal'conformed tothe heelseat and held heel and interlocked with punctured edges of the said resilient blank.

A. AA; finished wood heel ready for attachment to; a shoe and comprising .a :body of relatively softwood haVing'a'zconca-ve heel seatsuriace. a a

thin res lient sheet.concaved to fit within the periphery of :the heel-seat and ada-pted to be punctured byheelattachingnails driven through it intothe body .zOf ytheheel, means-for securing said resilient sheet imposition upon the heel,

. and a heel-rover. .oicsheet material upon the exp sed curved surface of the heel, saidcover being extended over theamarginal edge or the heelseat and -f1anged'inwardlyover the margin of said resilient sheet. a i SAMUEL G. ROSENBERG. 

